Baghdad Vehicle Ban Extended

The Iraqi military extended its weekly vehicle ban in Baghdad Friday, after the U.S. military warned that insurgents are pouring into the city for an all-out assault.

Officials extended the ban by four hours to prevent car bomb attacks against worshippers at weekly prayer services. Despite the ban, a bomb killed one person and wounded two others at a Sunni mosque in the capital.

To the north of Baghdad, U.S. troops killed two suspected insurgents, two women and a child during a raid in Baquba. The U.S. military says it regrets the civilian deaths. They were killed when American troops called in air support after shots were fired from a building in the area.

In other violence, a U.S. Marine was killed in fighting in Anbar province. And an insurgent attack killed five people in Mosul.

Thursday, Iraq's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, warned that the increasing sectarian violence could destroy the country and called on Iraqis to unite to stop the killings.